Transmission fluid smells!!

[scratchy]

Hi everybody.I love my red Vibe, I bought it new and it's been a joy for the past year.Yesterday I changed the oil and a guy told me I need to change the ATF because it smells as if it would be burned. I checked and it does smell like that but the color is normal.Today I went to AAMCO, they said the smell is normal because this a new type of ATF and there's nothing wrong with it.Nothing seems to be wrong, the gears are shifting normally @ 2000rpm when driving nicely and @3000rpm when I'm pushing it.Nowadays in Vegas it's 110F on a regular basis and the traffic is just horrible, there's a lot of stop-n-go... I guess I qualify for "extreme driving conditions" but I only have 24000 miles on it! Should I go ahead and change the ATF and get a transmission flush?Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[northvibe]

Ive heard the home mechanics say to drain your tranny and fill with new ATF every 30k. When you do that you only replace some of the ATF, because most of it is still in the torq converter, so every 30k keeps it semi fresh. This is what I do, but I have started at 50k. What I recommend is a aftermarket tranny cooler, I got mine off of summit racing. I forgot the size but Bluecrush has one too and many will say if you tow or it gets warm you should get one. It will help keep that tranny cooler and last longer, along with draining/filling ATF.

[blue_can]

If you are concerned that the trans is overheating you can attach some temp recording strips on the oil pan. This will help you see if the fluid is overheating and whether you need an external oil cooler.Life automotive sells them. http://www.lifeautomotive.com/Products/ATI8001.asp. I have purchased them in the past although I don't recall a min quantity of 10.There is another site which some trans rebuilders buy these strips - they are cheaper but I think they come in larger quantities. Cannot remember the site offhand.I'm new to the T-IV fluid but the smell seems very different to Dex 3 which I'm used to.

[WaveAction]

i know when i do my tranny flush i'll be putting in royal purple..not sure if you guys get it down there but the stuff works great..either that or some lucas racing

[ColonelPanic]

That transmission fluid stinks! I couldn't tell if it was good or bad, it smells rotten either way... When I had transmission trouble, the dealer had "fluid burned" on the paperwork where they had to replace the transmission. It didn't smell any worse than it did before the transmission committed suicide. *shrug*

[scratchy]

Thanks everybody!@northvibeYup, I've heard the same thing, it takes 2-3 changes to get the fluid completely replaced.@blue_canI'll try to get one of those temp strips, great idea!@WaveActionHaven't heard of royal purple. I'll look for it.@ColonelPanicSo T-IV smells weird no matter if it's new or not?I'd buy a quart just to check but I can't find it anywhere, it seems to be a dealer item!--------------------------------------This whole thing is driving me nuts.I guess I'll go ahead and have the fluid changed for peace of mind. And I really hate to take my Vibe to the dealer, the ones around here are just awful...Btw, did you guys ever notice the T-IV smelling weird, like burnt toast on your Vibe?

[northvibe]

my tranny fluid smells in general, I mean just think how much work your tranny does. that fluid gets hot and dark fast. Just be sure to drain and fill with in 30k miles. Mine smelled when I drained it, not to bad I mean I didnt sniff it.... but I know that fluid smells. changing it is just like the engine oil, super easy!royal purple is synthetic. the toyota stuff is either synthetic or a synthetic hybrid and I recommend that, thats what I use and if its good enough for yota its good enough for me.

[blue_can]

To be honest the best way to figure out what is happening with your fluid is to send a sample to a lab for analysis. The report will tell you exactly what contaminants are present and the state of the fluid. It costs about $20 - $30 to have this done. I use Polaris Labs – they send you a kit to send the sample back in. Also it may not be a bad idea to get some new fluid to compare smells.I personally find ATF has an offensive smell. I’ve sort of got used to Dexron 3. I’ve rebuilt 2 transmissions that used it and my garage smelt of the stuff all the while I was working on the trans. It amazing how much stuff keeps coming out as you take the transmission apart.As for the service schedule – according to my Vibe manual is says once every 60K – so I’m don’t see any reason to do it earlier. Modern clutches and bands don’t tend to wear as quickly as in the past. My opinion is that many service places sell flushes as a quick way to make money but that’s just me.You can of course flush at home by disconnecting the oil cooler lines and running the engine and filling while the torque converter empties at the same time.Don’t forget to drop the pan and clean the magnets.

[northvibe]

remember manual trannies and Autos work a little diff. The manuals dont have to work as hard, the autos are weak little guys so thats why I change my fluid more. Its easy to change a clutch out on a manual but a auto? mmmm yea then its new tranny time. Better to change the fluid more often then be sorry later. but yea the smell is nasty! hahha.

[blue_can]

Rebuilding the clutch packs on an auto is not difficult. It helps to have a hydraulic press but that's not essential. I can post a pic of one if anyone is curious but I'm not sure how to attach a photo to a post.

[northvibe]

well its the whole auto that sucks, there the torq converter etc etc. so for you with the tools and know how its easy maybe but for a standard maintenance person with no tools and tranny know how like my self, fluid changes can make my life with a auto tranny that much more easier. Id rather just swap fluid than rebuild

[blue_can]

LOL..true. I agree there is nothing lost by doing frequent changes especially if you can do it yourself. Let me see if I can attach a pic.

[northvibe]

Yeah I'd love to have more tools and be able to do my own tranny flushes and rebuilds. But until I get a massive garage Im stuck with a wrench and a pan hahhah. Lets see some pics of that! Have you done much with your vibes tranny?

[blue_can]

Have is one pic - I hope is shows up OK. This is the direct clutch from the Aisin MX17 transaxle. Very similar to the trans in the Vibe as it made by the same company. Also in the pic are the front planet carrier, sun gear, torque converter and oil pump.

Attached files

[blue_can]

I've just bought my vibe - it has 600 miles on it at the moment - so I'm hoping I don't have to do anything for quite a while yet. Ebay is a great place for used tools especially for trannies - new prices on tranny tools are crazy. I already picked up a few cheap tools for the vibe auto in case I need them one day.

[northvibe]

If my new place of residence has a big enough garage Ill have to invest in these tools now.... Id like to beef up my tranny to Level10 spec, level10 is a company that makes/builds "bullet proof" auto trannies

[blue_can]

Never heard of Level10 until today. Just visited their website. Seems like they sell upgraded or rebuilt valve bodies?Assuming they are not machining their own valve body parts but are buying them in from someone like Transgo there is no reason why you cannot do this yourself. Get yourself a set of pick tools - the old valves don't come out easily always. And if the shift kit does not include VB gaskets you can get a gasket kit from transtec (www.transtec.com)Here is a book that I have that you may want to consider buying if you plan on doing VB mods - http://www.atraonline.com/sour...Num=5

[pmcb9119]

Yesterday I took my 2004 Vibe in for an oil change,a nd the dudes suggested a Tranny Flush as well, you know to the tune of $99, but WAIT! THey ahd a coupon for $10 off, then they proceeded to say, after doing so, that the Vibe required a "special type" of Tranny Fluid, so oh by the way that will be an extra $34. I'm a wee bit freaked out that I was "taken" in some sort of scam. Can anyone tell me if the tranny fluid should or could still be that nice pink/red color after just 60 miles of driving (since the flush)? I should have done this yesterday, checking the dipstick for myself, but I didn't. Can I do it now nad get an accurate assessment as to whether the work was actually done? Thanks

[northvibe]

After much discussion other places, I personally would not do a tranny flush. It can be very aggressive on the transmission and actually make it worse. The drain and fill and clean the pan method works great for me. I would recommend the toyota ATF fluid, because our trannies are from toyota and thats the fluid they ship with. If you can change your engine oil you can do your tranny its almost the exact same thing, just more to the drivers side. new ATF (auto tranny fluid) is pink. after some miles it turns like a brown color. here is my thread on it with the pics toohttp://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=28967

[kevera]

[blue_can]

Having also been involved in the discussion in the “other places” I thought I would contribute here also…LOL. If you look on the web there are several conflicting opinions on this. My personal opinion (as someone who has overhauled transmission and also have a very good understanding of how they work) is that the transmission fluid exchange service (commonly called a “flush”) should not hurt your transmission. The machine simply connects in series with the oil cooler and the “flush” is performed in effect by the car itself – the fluid out of the torque converter to the oil cooler is collected by the machine and it returns new fluid via the cooler return line into the oil pan. In effect the trans does not really know that the machine is connected up.Having said that as to whether it is needed is another matter. It is not in the service schedule so one could argue that it is not really needed.I have done a flush (home method) only once on another car – not the Vibe - and that was because the fluid was heavily contaminated with friction material. This was due to another underlying problem so I flushed it since it was causing the valves to stick – there was flare between the shifts since the boost valve was sticking etc. This flush gave temporary relief but then shortly afterwards I completely lost third and reverse so I had to pull the trans out and do a complete overhaul. One of the needle bearings between the front planet carrier and ring gear had broken and the pieces had migrated into the direct clutch where they were grinding the clutch up. Long story…but one case where I used the flush to get some drivability back.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by pmcb9119 »Yesterday I took my 2004 Vibe in for an oil change,a nd the dudes suggested a Tranny Flush as well, you know to the tune of $99, but WAIT! THey ahd a coupon for $10 off, then they proceeded to say, after doing so, that the Vibe required a "special type" of Tranny Fluid, so oh by the way that will be an extra $34. I'm a wee bit freaked out that I was "taken" in some sort of scam. Can anyone tell me if the tranny fluid should or could still be that nice pink/red color after just 60 miles of driving (since the flush)? I should have done this yesterday, checking the dipstick for myself, but I didn't. Can I do it now nad get an accurate assessment as to whether the work was actually done? ThanksIf they did a tranny flush, then that should have replaced all the fluid with fresh red/pink. If they just drained and refilled, then some of the original fluid would still be in there, and even only driving 60 miles would be enough to mix it all up. Depending on the color of the fluid before the flush, it could discolor the new stuff enough to be noticeable. But, I think that if they did a flush, then 60 miles is token, and the fluid should still look new. Does your fluid look discolored? I did a drain and refill on a Corolla last month, the toyota fluid was more pricey than some of the other ATF variants.